By Hazel Gandhi
An old video purporting to show Prime Minister Narendra Modi rejecting an idol of Lord Ganesha offered to him during an event, is cropped and misleading.
BOOM found that the video is from May 2023 and a longer version shows PM Modi accepting the idol along with other gifts offered to him.
The 11-second clip shows PM Modi on the stage during a rally where he is seen signalling a man offering him the Ganesh idol to step back. A caption on Facebook reads, "Imagine if Rahul Gandhi had refused to take Lord Ganesh instead of Modi, today the entire media and BJP's supporters would have been breaking their bangles."
(Original text in Hindi: "कल्पना कीजिए मोदी जी की जगह अगर राहुल गांधी जी ने भगवान गणेश को लेने से मना कर दिया होता तो आज सर मीडिया और भाजपाइयों का झुंड अपनी चूड़ियां तोड़ रहा होता।")
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
Another user on X wrote, "Will you re-elect a PM who thinks himself above even Lord Ganesha too?"
Click here to view the post and here for an archive,
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FACT CHECK
BOOM found that the video is from May 2023 when PM Modi addressed a public rally in Ankola, Karnataka. The full video shows PM Modi accepting the Ganesh idol after accommodating the other gifts he was offered.
We ran a reverse image search of some key frames from the viral video on Google and found a YouTube livestream by News18 Kannada shared on May 3, 2023. The video's title read, "LIVE: PM Modi Rally In Ankola | BJP Election Campaign | Karnataka Elections 2023 | News18 Kannada". The visuals in this video were an exact match to the viral video.
The portion of the viral video begins from 1:59. It can be seen that as multiple people were making offerings to the PM in the form of shawls, a headgear, and other idols, he asked the person with the Ganesh idol to stand back in the queue. Finally, at the 2:17 mark, he is seen accepting the Ganesh idol and posing with it before it is kept aside along with the other gifts he received.
The same video was also shared by the Bharatiya Janata Party's verified YouTube handle on May 3, 2023. See here.
According to a blog on his official website, the PM addressed three rallies in Karnataka on May 3, 2023, as part of his campaign for the assembly elections in the state. Aside from Ankola, where the viral video is from, he spoke at two other rallies in Mudbiri and Bailhongal. During the address in Ankola, he speaks about how BJP would make Karnataka the "number 1" state in the country through infrastructural developments and Foreign Direct Investments. The blog further stated that PM Modi criticised the Congress government and CM Siddaramiah in Karnataka for betraying the public and not fulfilling their promises.
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